Page 15 of The Casella King

He yawns. “Brother, don’t ask.” He scratches the back of his head with a huge grin on his face. “This woman I met at the club wanted to kick on after it closed at four in the morning, and her friend wanted to join. I couldn’t bring them back to my place because I lost the keys, so I had to come here.” He smirks. “They were both Brazilian.” He winks, raising an empty bottle of scotch at me.

“I hope you covered your dick.” I watch as he gathers the rest of his things. “You know there cannot be an illegitimate heir.”

“Yes, yes, I wore protection.” He doesn’t even bother putting his clothes on as he heads to the door. “You’re beginning to sound like our mother,” he mutters as he walks out, slamming the door behind him.

Nico is the type of man to drown his feelings in the bottom of a bottle or seek a sense of feeling through substances.

He gets it from our father.

I get it, the appeal of being numb, not feeling, not thinking, but it doesn’t get you anywhere. All it does is shorten your life, make you a bitter person, and fuck with your mind. For Nico, he seeks that numbness. Our father wasn’t someone who took us on bike rides or showed us how to fish.

No.

Our father showed us how to fight, to use a gun…to kill. He showed us what it means to be ruthless, and in the process, stripped us of a normal childhood. His methods and lessons of resilience weren’t the best, and Nico saw the brunt of Dominic’s frustration because he was smaller than I was. Slower than I was. I, however, don’t crave the numbness because I feel it when I’m sober. There is a pit of nothing inside me, begging to be filled. No matter how many souls I take, or how much blood I have on my hands, it doesn’t even come close to touching the sides of the chasm within.

I shake the thoughts of my father out of my mind as I see my phone light up on the desk.

Aries

Can you at least tell me where this place is so I can bring appropriate clothing? – Aries

A smile tugs at the corner of my lips as I press reply.

Bring a light jacket, might get cold at night.

With that, I get to work. Part of my role includes finances. Yes, we hire external accountants that have been doing our finances for years, but with my father gone, I need to know I can trust these people, and they will not bring shame to the Casella name. I begin the tedious task of going through each transaction one by one, ensuring I don’t miss any for the month. I feel my eyes strain as I near the end of the list, resting back into the chair. I think about Aries’s bare leg underneath my palm, her wet tongue on mine, the way she was panting as I squeezed her thigh moving up to her ass.

It is no secret to anyone who took a glance at her, she isveryattractive.

I am drawn to her, a lot more than I should be, given the possible complications it could cause. It wasn’t a secret I wanted her, more than I would like to admit. I’m just glad I didn’t have to resort to other means to get her to agree to being my wife for a few months. I would have if I had to, but I didn’t want her to see that side of me yet.

It’s going to be entertaining.

I hear a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I say, leaving my palms on the desk, and I watch as Henry opens the door and steps in, closing it behind him.

“Boss, there’s been a bit of trouble with the second phase of the plan.” He looks down at his feet, which makes me wonder how big of a fuck-up they could’ve managed.

What was so hard to understand about “burn all their motherfucking shit down?”

“Go on.” My voice is stern as I speak.

“The boys managed to get to the first two clubs, but the Brayfords managed to capture a couple of them as ransom whilst they attempted the Brixton job.”

Well, fuck.

The Brayfords have proved to be a lot smarter than they led on.

“Get in there, and get them out,” I command without hesitation.

“But…”

I don’t let him finish. “Those are our boys in there, Henry, I don’t give a fuck what the consequence is, if they see our hand or whatever the fuck you’re thinking. I want you to assemble a team and get them the fuck out of there.”

Henry nods and without another word exits, closing the door behind him. I clench my teeth at the thought of being bested by the Brayfords again, and I wonder if going away with Aries right now is the right thing to do. I should be here, fighting with my men. Showing them I don’t abandon them when things get rough, which they were about to.

It was either secure the Casella line with Aries for now, get my mother off my ass, or hear about that bitch, whatever the fuck her name was, and how much of a good cook she is or what a perfect wife she would make, for the next month. Not to mention, if the Brayfords manage a hit on both Nico and me, the Casella line dies with us, no more Empire, no more kingdom to rule.

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